Thursday, October 5th, 7 pm: Forum on Fair Elections in Maryland. Hoyer Education Center (cafeteria), 2300 Belleview Ave. (Parking Available), Cheverly. How does money adversely affect the democratic process and what can be done to limit the power of money in elections? Learn about current efforts to control spending and promote citizen funding in local elections in Prince George's County, gerrymandering of elections in Maryland and more. Speakers: Damon Effingham, Legal and Policy Director, Common Cause Maryland and Suchitra Balachandran, Chair, Our Revolution Prince George's, a member of the Fair Election Prince George's Coalition.

The Progressive Prince George's chapter is establishing a community co-op! A community co-op!? Yes! It's a fancy term for a resident-led and funded organization. The co-op will help progressive Prince Georgians cultivate and take action on issues near and dear to them. Seanniece, the Prince George's County Co-op fellow, has been meeting with residents to hear more about what the County needs and wants to meet with YOU! Please use the link (https://beta.doodle.com/SeanniecePMD) to schedule a time to meet with her.

TONIGHT Oct. 2 South County Community Meeting, Monday, 10/2, 6 PM* We'll have a representative from County Executive Schuh's office to discuss and express our opposition to two controversial projects in South County: a proposed cell phone tower on school property at Shady Side Elementary, and mysterious bulldozing and digging taking place at Jack Creek park. Shady Side Community Center 1431 Snug Harbor Rd. Shady Side, MD

Progressive HoCo and the Howard County Chapter of the NAACP will be holding a Voter Registration Drive throughout the fall. We are focusing on low-income and rental neighborhoods in the county because residents in these neighborhoods are typically registered at significantly lower rates than in the general population. Currently our Voter Registration activities include tabling at various locations in Howard County as well as door-knocking. You can sign up at http://bit.ly/2x6S6hI.

It all happens for free… right? Not exactly. Organizing for change in our society and our high-maintenance politics requires both people and money. Keep change moving with a quick, secure impulse-buy contribution here.

Reading the Progressive Maryland BlogSpace: our blogs for the previous week are shown below, but if you want a handy way to keep track – and never miss a blog post – you can sign up to get this Weekly Memo by email. Remember this is your blogspace and your participation is heartily invited. See something going on that you don’t like – or that you do like and hope to see more of? Send us your thoughts; submit to the moderator at woodlanham@gmail.com

Progressives struggled in the 2017 Assembly session to pass laws that increased access to work and success for workers and their families. Some that we won will take effect tomorrow, Oct. 1. Of the allies in this progressive struggle, few were more effective than the Job Opportunities Task Force, which applied research and advocacy in ways that complement the work of our best legislators and overcome the prejudices and biases of the rest.

At this week's MoCo council hearing on the bill for a $15 minimum wage, "Of the 38 testimonies, only five expressed clear opposition to the $15 minimum wage with its proposed timeline and exemptions," Helen Burns reports. "The points of contention surrounded not whether a wage-earner was entitled to a modest living, but how the livable wage could be achieved."

"There’s nothing in Hogan’s transportation vision that helps people at the lower end of the economy," says Barry Rascovar. "No expansion of commuter buses, no shuttles connecting workers to spread-out job sites, no future mass transit such as a desperately needed east-west line through Baltimore. …Hogan’s highway proposal creates a windfall for the well-to-do and transportation businesses."

"It is a shame that when people allow their emotions to push them into their own political corners they, from time to time, might say things that they may not really mean if they were to take the time to think about it," Lower Shore activist Jared Schablein reflects. "Nazism is not an acceptable political belief, in this or any other country."

Still another Health Care Home Stretch Week, with US Senators busily engaged in bribing their fellow senators with home-state sweeteners to have them hold their noses and vote for the Graham-Cassidy version of Obamacare/ACA repeal. There is no room for complacency here; we have to let them know they can’t get away with it…. Lots more action below, regional and chapter-based, plus blog posts from the previous week.

Keeping up with the blogs is easier with the index. The blogs published in the PM BlogSpace since June 2015 are all available with descriptions and links here.